Back To December
by LandraWolf
Summary: The sequel to "Say Something I'm Giving Up on you." Nick and Judy are starting their new love life, but it's hard, being 2 different species; Predator and prey. Though the others mocks and painful words are nasty, together they can get through this…right?
1. How Do I Get There?

**A/N: Here is a sneak-peek (and the first chapter) of my new fan fiction, "Back To December." I'm doing something different with this fiction. I'm basing each chapter off of a song. A lot of them will be based off of country songs since I listen to country music, but not all of them.**

 **I'll let you know that updates will come a LOT slower. I'm starting school in a week, so don't expect an update every few days. You'll be lucky if you get a chapter once a week. So…just give me time. Updates will be slower, but PLEASE bear with me.**

 **Enjoy this first chapter!**

 **(This chapter is based off of Deana Carter's song, "How Do I Get There?")**

 **1**

 _How Do I Get There?_

Judy Hopps lay wide awake on her bed every night, thinking about the kiss that she gave to Nick Wilde. She just couldn't control her feelings anymore. She didn't know if Nick felt the same way that she did, and sometimes she got embarrassed thinking about the kiss. Every once in a while, she wished that she hadn't kissed him. She hadn't meant to express her feelings for him so quickly. Maybe she should just lay low and make him think that it was just a friendly kiss. But they both knew that it wasn't. Especially with the way she kissed him.

It had been a week since her kiss with Nick. He always gave her a warm smile at work and she tried hard to hide her blush. They didn't talk too much, but their work was pretty busy. Especially since Nick had to catch up on a lot of his work that he missed when he was sick with rabies. Chief Bogo had let him go pretty easily, but he hadn't let his work go easily. Nick was a busy fox.

It was Thursday morning, exactly 8 days after their kiss. Judy ran into the ZPD with a bright smile on her face. The late summer morning was beautiful with the light shining through the white, puffy clouds. She walked up to Clawhauser and handed him a box of doughnuts.

"Hey, Clawhauser," Judy greeted. "How are you today?"

"I'm great, Judy," he grinned. "But what's the special occasion. Your attitude and this box of doughnuts are making me suspicious."

Judy giggled. "Nothing, Clawhauser. It's just a wonderful day and I did promise to give you doughnuts last week."

"Oh, yeah. I guess so," he said. "I think that you're supposed to be in the bullpen right now."

"Really?" Judy's eyes lit up. "Do Nick and I have an assignment today?"

Clawhauser shrugged. "I don't know, but I'd go and check it out."

"Okay, thanks!" Judy jogged off towards the bullpen but waved at Clawhauser before fully turning around and jogging faster towards the bullpen.

The bunny entered it and got many greetings from the fellow officers. Hermit grinned at her and winked. Judy blushed and waved at him. They had become good friends ever since he saved her and Nick.

Judy found Nick sitting in their usual chair in the bullpen. She climbed up into the seat next to him and sat up tall.

"Hey, Carrots. What's up?" Nick asked.

"Good morning to you, too," Judy replied. "I hope that we get a good assignment."

"Me too," Nick said. "I wanna go kick some badass butt!"

Judy giggled. "Yeah."

Then Chief Bogo walked in. He eyed the officers carefully before clearing his throat.

"Good morning, officers."

"Whoa, did he actually just greet us?" Nick whispered to Judy.

"Shh!" she hissed, listening to what the chief had to say. Meanwhile, Nick ignored most of it and waited to hear what the assignments were. His ears perked up and his mind drifted away from his thoughts when he heard his name called.

"Officer Wilde and Officer Hopps, speeding patrol."

Nick sighed and slid off of the chair after Judy did. "At least it's better than nothing," Nick said to Judy once they were outside of the bullpen.

Judy nudged him with her elbow. "Hey, it's not too bad," she replied. "It's kinda fun, considering we can kind of hangout in the car."

Nick shrugged. "I guess. I just think that Chief Bogo hates me and he's giving me—us—the worst assignments possible."

"That's not true. You know why?" Nick looked up at her. "Because we didn't get parking duty."

"True that," Nick chuckled. "Okay, Carrots. Let's get going."

Judy grinned and hopped forwards. She got the car keys from Clawhauser and then said goodbye to him before Nick and she walked outside to the police car. Judy drove them to where they were supposed to patrol at first: Tundra Town. It was chilly, but they stayed in the car with the heat on. Judy settled down into the back of her seat and grabbed her phone out of her pocket.

"Fluff, you can't be looking at your phone when we're supposed to be looking out for speeders," Nick spoke.

"You're right," Judy said. "So we'll alternate. Every five minutes, one of us will look out while the other can look at their phone. You look out first."

Nick rolled his eyes and huffed. "Fine, rabbit. You win."

Judy chuckled lightly and scrolled on her phone. She scrolled around on her Tumblr and laughed at funny posts.

"Hey, Nick. Look at this one!" Judy giggled.

"I can't. I have to look out for speeders, remember?"

"Aw, come on, Nick. Don't be sore," Judy said. "Come on, read it. It's great."

Nick glanced at her phone and read out loud the post. "When your crush…"

Judy's ears widened and she pulled the phone away, panicking.

"Oh my gosh, um…wrong one." She scrolled up on her phone and showed Nick the post again. Nick smiled at chuckled at the post.

"Haha, that's great, Carrots."

Judy pulled the phone away and read her post again. "Yeah, I know. It's great."

"I liked the first one, too," he said. Judy dropped her phone and looked out her window, not daring to look at Nick.

"It's your turn on your phone now," Judy said, shortly. Nick pulled out the phone from his pocket and turned it on. He began to tap away on his phone, texting Finnick. Judy soon became irritated with Nick's repetitive tapping, but she didn't say anything. She just continued to look out for speeders.

"Maybe it should be 10 minutes for us each instead of 5 minutes on our phones," Nick said, continuing to text Finnick.

"So that you can have the first turn with 10 minutes?" Judy looked at him. "I know what you're trying to do, Wilde. Stop trying to hustle me."

"Oh, so do _you_ want the first ten minutes?" Nick crossed his arms and let his sly smile on his face. Judy smirked at him and crossed her arms too.

"Ladies first."

##############################################################################

Judy entered her brand new apartment that night. She turned on the lights and walked into her kitchen. She grabbed out some leftover carrot stew that she made earlier that week and heated it up in the microwave. Once she was done with that, she sat down on her couch and turned on the TV. She watched some random channel while eating her dinner.

Judy then let her mind drift far off into her thoughts. She almost blew it today was that post. She knew that Nick was suspecting some things. But it was too soon. Nick was still healing from his wounds—in fact, he was visiting Marcy tonight. She couldn't tell him that she loved him quite yet. But when she was going to tell him. How would she get there? How would she tell him that she loved him? The kiss explained a lot, but she hoped that Nick wouldn't think of it as a big deal. Recently, she'd been acting like it wasn't a big deal. But it _was._ And every time she saw Nick, she wanted to run up to him and hug him tightly while she kissed him.

Judy had a hot spoonful of her soup. She managed to swallow it, but it burned her tongue. She cussed lightly, mattering things like, "Crap," but she went back into her deep thoughts again.

How would she make him see how much she truly loved him, when the time was right? She watched him almost die and sat by his side during his 'last hours.' _If that isn't love, then what is?_ Judy and Nick had always been the best of friends and rarely held secrets from each other, but Judy had recently been getting feelings for Nick. And Nick probably didn't feel the same. What if he was ashamed of the kiss? What if he never wanted to kiss her, but he didn't want to pull away and make her feel bad? Judy grew a bit embarrassed and angry, thinking about these thoughts. That kiss was a very foolish move that she made back there. She never should have done that.

But Judy just couldn't help but let her feelings run. She wished that Nick would take her into his strong arms and hold her tightly, making her feel loved by him. Her feelings were growing stronger by the minute and she could hardly control her feelings anymore. She wanted him. No. She _needed_ him. She waited far too long for him while he was sick with rabies, and she wasn't going to wait any longer now. She could help him heal and love him at the same time. Surely it'd work. It had to. Because Judy couldn't live one more day with these feelings stuck inside of her. _Tomorrow,_ she thought. _Tomorrow I will tell him everything._

 **Did you like it? I know that a lot of you expected fluff in this first chapter, especially with the way that the last fic ended. Well, be patient. Fluff doesn't come TOO easily…**

 **Please review!**


	2. I Was Made For Loving You

**A/N: Here is your update. Don't expect them to be quick like this anymore. I start school on Monday.**

 **This chapter is based off of the song, "I Was Made For Loving You," by Tori Kelly feat. Ed Sheeran.**

 **2**

 _I Was Made For Loving You_

Nick gave his sister a tight hug in her doorway. Marcy pulled away and winked at her brother, letting on her sly smile that was similar to Nick's, just not as smug as his.

"I'll see you around," she said. "You take care, alright?"

"Don't worry, sis," Nick replied. "So…Monday movie night?"

"Sure!" Marcy replied. "Where at?"

"My place, I guess," Nick answered.

"How about we invite Judy. I like her. She's really spunky," Marcy said. Nick smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. She probably wants to see you again," he spoke. "Well, I've got to get going. I have a long day at work tomorrow."

"Yep. Go on and work yourself out," Marcy giggled.

"Oh believe me. I will." Nick gave her a wink. "See ya, Marcy."

"Bye Nick."

Marcy closed the door after Nick walked out. He walked down the hallway of her apartment building and went down through the elevator. He walked outside and the night was nice with the late summer wind blowing. It ruffled through Nick's fur as he walked on the sidewalk. Not many mammals were out on the streets at this time of night. It was about 11:15 p.m. _There better not be another criminal episode on the streets. I'm not going through rabies again._

Thankfully, Nick reached his apartment alive and without any criminal cases. He set his house keys on his counter and plopped down on his sofa. He switched on the news and pulled out his phone from his pocket. He just wanted to hear the TV in the background. It made him feel less lonely.

Nick's phone buzzed with a text from Judy. His face lit up. _Ah, Judy. That sweet little bunny._ Nick remembered the kiss that she gave him. It was a beautiful one, really. Nick wished that it didn't have to end. But the funny thing is…she acted as if it never happened. But it did. Maybe it was just a friendly kiss. But Nick didn't know. Maybe after the kiss, she thought of how weird a rabbit and fox relationship would be. Nick had to admit, it would be really weird…and difficult. But that didn't stop his strong feelings for the bunny. She was so beautiful; so cute. Everything about her made Nick want to scoop her up in his arms and kiss her. But he didn't want to make Judy feel uncomfortable either.

It was hard. He wanted to tell Judy that he loved her, but he probably didn't even deserve her. Maybe she never really loved him. Maybe Nick was just imagining things. What if the kiss was all just a dream? It possibly could have been.

Should he tell Judy about his feelings for her? He wanted to…but Judy probably didn't love him. She probably just wanted to be friends. After all, he had wounded her. But he still loved her, and his feelings for her were so strong. He wanted her. No, he _needed_ her.

Nick sighed and shook his head. He didn't know what to do. He loved Judy. He wanted her to be his. He wanted to be with her. He wanted Judy to be his very dear girlfriend. Maybe in the future they could settle down and get married. But…how would that work out with them being a fox and a bunny? Predator and prey? Nick let an irritated growl out of his throat. He read Judy's text over again.

 _*Hi, Nick. You still up? I'm really bored.*_

Nick nodded to himself. _*Hey, Carrots. I'm still up. I'm bored too. Oh, and Marcy says 'hi.'*_

 _*I know. She texted me about your night.*_

 _*Did she tell you about Monday night?*_ Nick typed.

Judy replied with: _*Nope. What's on Monday night?*_

 _*We were gonna watch a movie over at my place. You're invited.*_

 _*Sounds fun. I'm coming.*_

 _*Great.*_

Nick was getting tired. It was almost midnight and he had an early morning and tomorrow would be an early morning too. He'd better tell Judy goodnight.

 _*Goodnight, Carrots. I'm going to bed.*_

 _*Night, Nick. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.*_

Nick chuckled. _*Guess I'm not sleeping in my bed then. Night!*_

Before Nick put his phone down, he set his alarm on his phone. Then he turned it off and set it on the coffee table. He was already so comfortable on the couch that he decided to sleep on it. He closed his eyes, and after thinking a lot more about Judy, he drifted off into sleep…

 _Nick and Judy were sitting in Judy's new apartment on her blue sofa. They were watching TV when Nick turned his head to look at Judy. The bunny sensed him looking at her, so her big purple eyes looked into his green ones._

 _"_ _What, Nick?" Judy asked._

 _"_ _Those eyes of yours are pretty, Carrots," he winked. Judy snorted._

 _"_ _My eyes? Thanks. Lots of mammals think so, too. I'm glad that you finally realized it."_

 _That's not the reply that Nick was looking for, but he just chuckled. Judy turned her head away and continued to look at the TV. Nick wanted to do something else. He needed to somehow let her know that he loved her. So Nick tried putting his arm around her. He started off slowly but putting his arm on the back of the couch. Judy didn't seem to notice, and if she did, it didn't bother her. Nick slowly slid down his arm and soon enough it was wrapped around Judy's shoulders. But the moment that she felt him touch her, she flinched back and hit his arm off of her._

 _"_ _Don't touch me, Wilde," she growled. Nick was shocked and put his arm by his side._

 _"_ _Is something wrong, Carrots?" Nick asked. Judy glared at him, her eyes burning with rage._

 _"_ _What do you think?" she snapped._

 _"_ _Fluff, what's wrong? What did I do?" Nick asked, confused by Judy's attitude. Judy's eyes grew colder as she glared at him._

 _"_ _I hate you, Nick," she muttered. "I hate you with such burning passion. What are you thinking, putting your arm around me? I don't want to have_ anything _to do with you. You're a fox, I'm a bunny. In fact, you're an_ untrustworthy _fox. And I hate foxes. I hate_ you _."_

Nick opened up his eyes and began to pant. He looked around the room, searching for Judy. And then he realized that it was all just a dream. No, wait. It was just a nightmare. A bad nightmare. But was this a sign? Nick recalled Judy saying that whenever she had nightmares, they usually came true. Was this nightmare warning him to leave Judy alone? Was it telling him that Judy wanted nothing to do with him? Nick sat up and let out another growl. It probably was. But he couldn't hold these feelings in any longer.

Nick rubbed his head. He sighed and then looked out the window. It was morning now. He checked the time on his phone. It was 6:15 a.m., 15 minutes before his alarm went off.

"I might as well just stay up…although, 15 minutes of sleep _is_ really precious." Nick lied back down and closed his eyes. "I might not even be able to sleep after my nightmare."

Nick had proven himself wrong.

##############################################################################

"Nick, are you ever going to get off your phone?" Judy asked. Nick looked up from his phone and looked at her.

"What does it matter to you? You're on yours too," he said. The two of them were in Icy's Café for their lunch break. Judy had a small coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich.

"But I want to talk."

Nick looked up at Judy. "What do you mean? Just friendly chatter, or is there something specifically that you want to talk about?"

Judy pursed her lips. "Um…something specifically."

Nick turned off his phone. _Oh, great. Here it goes. She's gonna tell me all about how she hates me._

"Well, let's hear it."

Judy looked down at her paws in her lap. She fumbled with them and didn't meet eye contact with Nick.

"I don't know how to put this," she mumbled.

"Here, let me help." Nick cleared his throat. "You wanted to tell me that you've missed me so much when I had rabies, but now you want things to go back to normal. You want us to continue to be best friends as we've always been and you're going to try to encourage me to find another girl in my life. And while you want me to do that, you're gonna go and search for your soulmate."

Judy looked up at Nick with big eyes. "Wow. I, um…didn't know that that's what was running through your mind, Nick. I didn't know that you felt that way…"

Nick mentally face-palmed. _Sweet cheese and crackers, I blew it._

"I um…I think that I'm gonna leave and go back to the office," Judy said. "You can finish up here. I've got some work to catch up on."

Judy was being too obvious and the two of them knew it.

"I guess that that's not how you feel," Nick said before Judy could move.

"No, not really…but after telling me how you feel, you won't want to hear what I have to say," Judy replied. "But I'm glad that we're friends, Nick."

"No, no. Tell me," Nick insisted. He was so confused with everything. Judy thought that _he_ didn't want to love her, but that's what Nick thought of Judy. He thought that _she_ didn't love him.

"I-it's nothing," Judy mumbled. "I really have to go catch up on work."

"You do not," Nick sniffed. "That's a terrible, obvious excuse. Tell me what's on your mind, Carrots."

Judy grew red in the face. "It's nothing!" she shouted. "It was something small that doesn't matter! I forgot half of it, anyways."

"You can trust Nick here," Nick said, calming down his voice. "I want to hear what you have to say to me."

"You won't like it. You'll laugh and think of it unbelievable."

"That kiss was unbelievable." Judy stopped for a second and looked panicked. Nick smiled. "In a good way, Carrots."

Judy blushed deeply. "I see," she muttered, looking away. "It was just…a friendly kiss. I mean, after all, a rabbit and fox relationship would be crazy awkward, am I right?"

Judy chuckled to herself, trying to even convince herself that. Nick dropped his ears a bit and let on a smile.

"Right, right. That'd be _so_ crazy," he agreed. "Unbelievable, even."

Nick felt pained as he heard himself speak his own words. Sure, it might be hard, but not crazy…right?

"I mean, imagine all of the attention we'd get if we _were_ a couple," Judy said. "We'd get mocked and mammals would tell us that it's impossible for predator and prey to be a couple."

"But it's not really impossible," Nick replied. "If you really love someone, it doesn't matter who or what they are. It can even _be_ a fox and a rabbit."

Oh, gosh. Her eyes were so big now; beautiful and violet. What Nick wouldn't give to lean in and kiss her right now.

"You know, Nick…" Judy sighed. "I might have a date tonight myself. You wouldn't mind if I cut the dinner at my place tonight…would you?"

Nick felt as if his heart stopped. "Um, no. No, that's fine. Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

Judy bit her lip. "Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, but this guy is kinda special to me…"

"That's just fine, Carrots," Nick said. "As long as you make it at my place on Monday."

Judy nodded. "Yeah, I can make that."

Nick's heart beat faster and faster.

"What's this guy like?" he asked. Judy pursed her lips and then parted them to speak.

"Um…he's nice, funny, tall…"

"What kind of animal is he?"

Judy shut her mouth for a few moments, but then opened it back up to retort. "You know what? It's none of your business, okay?"

Nick threw his paws up in defense. "Whoa, whoa! I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to go in too deep. I just wanted to know about this fella who you were hanging out with, that's all."

"He's just a nice guy," Judy snorted. She checked her phone. "You know, we really should be getting back now."

Nick looked at his phone too. "Yeah, you're right. Let's get back to work."

Nick stepped out of his booth and held out his paw for Judy to take. She took his amber colored paw as he helped her out of her booth. She didn't let go for a few moments. Her mind and heart were racing. Nick had thought that a fox and bunny relationship wouldn't work out. But Judy thought that it could. It definitely could. And she _wanted_ it to. She was madly in love with the fox.

##############################################################################

Judy entered her apartment. She flipped on the lights and plopped right down on her cozy couch. She wanted to cry. She hadn't meant to say those, things but she was just trying to test Nick. And while doing that, she probably made Nick think that _she_ felt like that. But that wasn't the case. She was in love with Nick.

What could she do? How would she tell him? _Would_ she tell him? Yes, she would. She'd tell him that she wouldn't care what he thought, because those were her true feelings for him. Even if she couldn't go through with her feelings, telling him about them would make her feel much better.

Judy almost felt like she was made for loving him. That fox was amazing and she loved the way he teased her. But it'd be so much better if he teased her if she was his girlfriend. _If only…_

She was such a coward. Judy didn't tell him how she really felt, and then she lied and told him that she was going out with somebody? That only made things even _worse._ She only told him that she was 'going out with somebody' because she wanted to be alone. She couldn't dare look at his face, being a coward and all.

But Judy wasn't really lying. Her guy was Nick. And he was funny, nice, and tall. He was perfect for Judy. And she wanted him more than words could ever express.

 _I have to tell him. I HAVE to…_

 _##############################################################################_

It was Saturday night. Judy was free that night and Nick probably was, too. She HAD to tell him. These feelings stuck inside of her had to burst out soon.

Judy put on a white blouse with dark jeans. She stuck her wallet with her phone in her back pockets and flipped off the lights in her apartment. She walked out the door and locked it behind her. She sighed and turned around from her door, only to face Nick. She jumped when she saw his smug face looking back at her.

"Oh, hi," she said. "I was just coming to see you."

Nick stuck his paws in his pockets. "How was your date, Carrots?"

"M-my date?" she asked. "Oh, it was good."

"Was it fun, or was it just _good?_ " Nick wondered. Judy's heart began to pound. He was definitely onto something; onto her.

"Just good, I guess," she replied.

"Where did you go?"

"Um…just to that little Mexican restaurant down the street," she lied.

"Hmm…" Nick grunted. "That's funny. Because I didn't recall seeing you ever walk out our door last night. I thought that perhaps it was just at your apartment, but now I'm not so sure."

"You were spying on me?" Judy was furious, but inside she felt happiness. If Nick was spying on her, he must have felt something for her.

"Well…" Nick set on a sheepish grin.

"Nick Wilde!" Judy exclaimed. "My date was none of your concern!"

"Well, I know that, but…" Nick's eyes trailed down to the floor. "I was just…curious."

Judy stuck her hands on her hips.

"Is that all you are, Mr. Wilde?"

Nick looked up and met her violet eyes. "No, it's not." Nick took a couple more steps towards her. Judy's heart raced faster and faster.

"Carrots…can we talk?"

Judy's throat was dry, but she managed to speak out, "Sure." She turned around and unlocked her apartment door. She flung it open and switched on the lights. Nick walked in after her and closed the door behind him.

"Come over here," Judy said, sitting down on a chair at her bar-like counter. Nick sat in one of the high chairs as Judy walked over to the fridge. "You want something to eat or drink?"

"Blueberries," he smiled.

"You name it." Judy grabbed a box of the berries and walked over to as high chair next to Nick. She sat down and gave Nick the box. He opened it up and popped a few blueberries into his mouth. "What were you going to tell me?"

Nick stopped eating and sat up straight.

"Oh, right…" he sighed. He fiddled with his fingers for a bit before looking up at Judy. "This is gonna be really hard for me to say, but…I feel something for you, Carrots. It's really a pretty strong friendship that we have."

Judy nodded herself. "Yeah, I know. I like it, it's nice..."

They both sighed at the same time and spoke at the same exact time, "But…"

They shot their heads up and looked at each other. Nick smiled and winked at the gray bunny. "You first, Carrots."

"No, you. You started it," Judy replied.

"Ladies first."

Judy half smiled and let out another sigh. "I also feel something for you, Nick. It's really strong and it's telling me that our friendship could be even bigger and stronger. Yesterday, I said things that I didn't mean. I never went out with somebody and I…I really _don't_ think that a rabbit and a fox relationship would be impossible. It'd be difficult, of course, but not impossible. And that kiss wasn't just a friendly kiss. At least not to me. And…I thought…I thought that maybe we could work it out, because…"

Nick cocked his head. "Because what, Fluff?"

"Well I, um…" and now her courage had gone away. She couldn't say the words. Sure, she said them when he was sick with rabies, but he probably wasn't in his conscious mind then.

Judy felt something touch her paw. She looked up into Nick's emerald eyes.

"Are you gonna finish, Carrots? I can finish it for you," he winked. Judy smiled.

"Sure, go ahead, Slick Nick."

Nick let on his smug look and cleared his throat. "You were trying to explain that I'm the most marvelous fox that you'd ever imagine that you'd run into." He began to wave his arms around widely, as if he were making Judy imagine something. "And he's the cutest fox that you ever did see. He's funny, sarcastic, and boy! Does he have a way with words."

He flashed a smile and Judy and winked again. Judy giggled and covered her mouth with her paws. "Go on," she laughed.

"As I was saying—or as _you_ were saying—he's so charming that you couldn't resist kissing him on that day—what was it? Last Thursday?—so you gave him the best kiss that he could ever imagine. And then, you became ashamed because you thought, 'Look at me? I'm just little body of meek prey, kissing some fox that's too good for me. I can't love him, but he's just _so_ amazing that I can't help but falling in love with him.' So you decide to tell me all about your love life, but I guess that I had to finish it up for you. Did I get it all right?"

"Sure, Nick," she grinned.

"What? Did I get something wrong?" he asked, grinning.

"Nothing wrong. You just left something out," she replied.

"Yeah? And what's that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Your feelings," she cooed. Nick stopped and sat up straight.

"Who said that I had feelings for you?" he asked.

"Oh, don't you?" she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "What were you saying before I interrupted you?"

"Well…" he scratched himself behind his ears. "I can't really express it. How about you finish it for me."

Judy smirked. "Oh, okay." She cleared her throat and began. "After the kiss, you decided that I was the cutest and sweetest little bunny that ever did walk the earth, but you realized that you were too dumb to be in love with a sly bunny like me. So you wandered around your apartment, day and night, trying to figure out a way to make yourself smart. And then you decided that the best way to make yourself smart like me was to _talk_ to me. So that's when I found you outside of my door, waiting to speak with me and ask me my secrets about being smart before telling me how much you love me."

Nick bursted out laughing and almost fell off of his high chair while doing that. He slammed his fist down on Judy's counter, laughing even harder and harder. Tears almost dripped out of his eyes from laughing so much. Meanwhile, Judy looked at him, smugly, crossing her arms on her chest.

"How well did I capture it?" she asked.

"Pretty w-well, C-Carrots," he laughed. "That was pretty accurate."

Judy gave in and laughed with Nick. "You should have seen the look on your face when I was talking about you."

"It must have been so charming," he replied. After they settled down from laughing, Judy dropped her smile and looked at Nick.

"But really. How _do_ you feel?"

Nick let a soft smile on his lips. "Like this, Carrots."

He leaned forwards and set a light kiss on Judy's lips. It was short, but beautiful. Judy's eyes fluttered closed and opened back up after the kiss. She grinned back at Nick while they pulled apart.

"Oh, so _that's_ how you feel."

Nick chuckled lightly. "Yeah, just about."

Judy smiled shyly and looked down at her dangling feet. She thought that he'd be totally against the idea of being in love with her, but it turned out that she was wrong. He did love her.

"But." Judy looked up. "What about the others? How will they take this? We're two different species. I mean, I'm not scared, but…I am."

"I know how you feel," Nick responded. "But if you truly love me—which I know you do because you can't resist falling in love with this charming fox—then you won't care what the others think. And I won't either. Because, I mean, come on! We're two cops. We fight crime and criminals. All we'll have to do as a couple is fight off the negative thoughts of others."

He gave Judy a smile and crossed his arms. "How hard can it be?"

 **What do you think? How hard CAN it be? Will they be able to conquer the challenges ahead of them? Stick with me to find out! :D**

 **Ya'll know the drill. Review!**


	3. Just A Kiss

**A/N: This is the 3** **rd** **chapter. I'm so sorry that it took this long, but…school.**

 **Also, I'd advise so that you'd understand the chapters' meanings a bit more, look up the songs (or at least the lyrics) in which the chapters are based off of. It'll help ya'll.**

 **This chapter is based off of the song, "Just a Kiss," by Lady Antebellum.**

 **3**

 _Just a Kiss_

It was official. Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps were a couple. They even recorded it on the carrot pen just so that neither of them would forget (well, that was Nick's idea. He thought that Judy was such a dumb bunny that she'd forget all about it.)

Judy decided to text Hermit the news first. He had always wished for them to be together, and now they were. And he texted back very happily, too, saying how he was so happy for them. He even gave her some encouraging words.

Judy sighed, lying down in her bed a few nights later. She had her legs crossed as she tapped on her phone. Tomorrow was hers and Nick's day off. Nick had decided to take Judy to a very special lunch. Judy was so excited that she could hardly sleep.

Suddenly, there was a crash and a bang outside Judy's window. She bolted up in her bed and looked outside. She saw suspicious figures lurking in the shadows. Judy slipped her officer belt over her casual clothes and ran outside of her apartment. She met Nick in the hallway. He was wearing his full uniform. He looked at Judy, but he didn't smile or greet her.

"Did you hear that too?" he wondered, concerned.

"Yeah, we better go check it out. It sounded like a gunshot," Judy replied. "Come on."

They raced down the stairwell together. They quietly walked out of the door, making sure that they wouldn't scare the suspicious mammals away. Judy rested her paw on her gun and lightly picked up her feet as she creeped along the sidewalk.

"We should split up," she whispered to Nick.

"Good idea. I'll make a short cut and cut through an alley," Nick replied. He bent down and placed a kiss on Judy's forehead. "Be careful, Carrots."

"I will," Judy smiled at him. Nick trotted off silently, making his way towards the alley. Judy let out a huff of breath and walked on again. The more she walked, she began to see shadows of the suspicious characters. She pinned her ears back and crouched down to the ground. She inspected the animals. There were 3 of them, but…one was on the ground. _Oh no,_ Judy thought. _That WAS a gunshot…_

Judy didn't know what to do. Some mammal might have been in danger, possibly already dead. But it wasn't very smart to jump out and try to stop them.

Judy sniffed the air and smelled a very familiar scent. _Fox._ It wasn't Nick. He probably hadn't made it to the alley yet, but she felt sick in her stomach as she realized that one of the mammals was a fox, whether it was one of the suspicious characters or the one of the ground.

And then Judy smelled the thick, heavy scent. Blood. The mammal on the ground was definitely wounded. Judy stood up from her crouched position, and as she did, the two other mammals turned around and started to walk off. Judy gritted her teeth and walked forwards, quickly.

"Stop!" she shouted. "Stop in the name of the law!"

The two mammals turned around and glared at her. One of them had piercing green eyes and the other had yellow ones. Judy pulled her gun out of its holster and held it firmly in her paws.

Judy heard her walkie-talkie go off.

 _"_ _Carrots."_ It was Nick's voice. _"What are you doing?"_

"A mammal is wounded over here. If it doesn't get medical attention right away, it might die!" Judy hissed.

 _"_ _I'm about to exit the alley. I'll take care of the so-called criminals. You take care of the wounded one,"_ Nick replied. Judy nodded and glared at the two mammals. She inspected their figures. The one with green eyes was a tiger. The one with yellow eyes was a fox. They glared at her and took a few steps forwards. Judy's heart pounded.

"What do you want, little bunny?" the tiger snarled. He took another step closer to Judy, grunting and baring his teeth. Judy's hands began to shake, but the gun didn't slip loose from her paws.

"That's Officer Hopps to you," a new voice barked. The tiger turned around and saw Nick standing there, resting his paw on his gun handle. The other fox sniffed the air and glared at Nick.

" _You're_ Officer Hopps?" he growled. "What kind of name is that for a fox? And why are you wearing that silly costume?"

"No, _she_ is Officer Hopps," Nick said, pointing to Judy. "I'm Officer Wilde. And this is no costume, sir. Nor am I wearing a fake badge…"

As Nick continued to talk, Judy rushed over to the wounded animal. She knelt down by its side and looked upon it. It was a ferret who'd been shot. She was breathing heavily and her dull eyes looked up into Judy's.

"It's okay." Judy grabbed hold of the ferret's paw. "I've got you now."

With her free paw, Judy grabbed her phone out of her pocket and dialed 911. She put the phone to her ear and waited for the operator to pick up.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"A wounded ferret is right here by my side. She needs medical attention immediately. We're on Fur Pine Lane. Please hurry!"

"Alright, I'm sending someone right away."

Judy ended the call and squeezed the ferret's hand tighter. The ferret looked into Judy's hopeful eyes. Her entire body began to shake. Judy knew that she had to speak some comforting words to the frightened and injured ferret.

"It's okay, it's okay," Judy cooed. "The ambulance is on its way."

The ferret's shaking slightly calmed down, but she still was terrified and in pain.

"Who did this?" Judy asked.

"T-the f-fox did," the ferret wheezed out. She broke out into a coughing fit. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, especially since they shot her there. "The tiger was w-with him b-but he told t-the fox t-to l-leave me a-alone."

"Well, I'm here now. Calm down and focus on something else. Ignore the pain. Think about your family."

The ferret closed her eyes. Judy was frightened that at first she gave up on life and died, but she was only thinking about her loved ones.

Judy glanced over at Nick. He was coaxing the criminals, still holding out his gun. His tail swayed back and forth as he took a couple steps. Soon, bright lights flashed in Judy's eyes. She heard the wail of sirens coming closer. The ambulance parked by the side of the road. EMT's emerged from it with a stretcher in their paws.

"This is the hurt mammal?" one of them asked. Judy's bit her tongue and fought off the urge to snap, "Nooooooooo, she's perfectly fine." Instead, she nodded. One of the EMT's lifted up the ferret and placed her on the stretcher. Judy still had her paw clutched in the ferret's.

"It's gonna be okay. Stay strong," Judy whispered before her paw slipped out of the injured mammal's. The back doors of the ambulance were slammed shut once she was safely inside. The ambulance zoomed off as fast as it could, and as it did, Judy heard two gun shots. She whirled around and found Nick on the ground.

"Oh no. Nick. Nick!" Judy ran over to the fox on the ground. She ignored the fox and the tiger who were pointing guns at her. But before she even reached Nick's side, he got back up to his feet and loaded his gun. He showed his teeth at the predators.

"That wasn't very nice," he snarled, walking towards them again. Judy let a small smile on her lips as she made her way to Nick's side, also loading her gun. It was very often when Nick got extremely mad, but when he did, he got _mad._ Judy loved the way he looked and acted when he was angry. It was kinda cute.

"Drop your guns," Nick snapped. The tiger and the fox glanced at each other.

"Why?" the tiger purred. "It's two against two now. A nice challenge."

The yellow-eyed fox grinned smugly, challenging Nick's green-eyed stare. "Why are you a cop? You should be with me and my buddies. Come hang out with your fellow foxes."

"Yeah right," Nick rolled his eyes. "I became a cop for a reason. I used to be like you, you know. But this little bunny changed my mind."

The yellow-eyed fox snarled. "But don't you ever feel an urge to go back to being yourself? A fox like me?"

"What do you mean?" Nick narrowed his eyes. As he did, he automatically lowered his gun. "We're all just mammals. There's nothing different about being a fox."

"Oh isn't there?" the other fox smirked. "You know that we foxes are different. We are cunning, quick, and even hot." He winked. "You know why others hate us? Because they want to _be_ us. They're jealous of us, Mr. Fox cop. You don't deserve to be a cop. You're worth so much more than that."

 _Damn, he's good at hustling,_ Judy thought.

The fox's words were pretty tempting, Nick had to admit. He didn't even notice how well the other fox was at hustling. But was he Nick Wilde good? Nick soon had his full attention on the fox.

"You can change the world by just being yourself, sir. You don't need to be a cop to prove yourself 'good.' Just because other mammals are jealous of our talents doesn't make us bad. We foxes can change Zootopia. We could even change the world."

It was almost as if Nick was hypnotized. He blocked out everything else around him, including Judy. He only focused of the other fox's words. He was so focused on the other fox that he didn't even notice the tiger leap over and grab Judy in his massive paws. He held his gun to Judy's head and loaded the gun. Nick snapped back into reality.

"Judy!" Nick shouted, whipping his head around to look at her. Then he heard another gun load. Nick turned around and saw the fox holding out his gun towards him.

"You're pretty stupid, aren't you?" he chuckled. "I'll make you a deal. You join me and my buddy here and we'll let the little rabbit go."

Judy struggled in the tiger's paws. "Don't listen to him, Nick!" she gritted her teeth. "He's lying. He's trying to make you feel lowly about yourself."

Nick looked between Judy and the fox. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "What happens if I choose not to join you?"

The bright eyed fox glanced at his sharp claws on his free paw. "Simple. We kill her."

"You'll do that even if I join you," Nick spat.

"I swear I won't. She'll return home safely. That's on a fox's word."

 _A fox's word…_ Nick didn't know what to do. A fox's word? Wasn't Marcy lying to him on that night? What if this fox was too? What if all foxes lied and were untrustworthy, even himself? What if the other mammals were right?

Nick panted and took a couple of steps back. Judy, with her chin rested on the tiger's muscular arm, looked at Nick, concerned.

"Nick?" she peeped. Nick glanced at the gun in his paw. He fought back the urge to shoot the fox right there. If he did that, the tiger would still kill Judy. Nick looked at his tail tucked between his legs.

Finally, he looked up with a new light in his eyes. "What do you _do_ in this team of yours?"

The other fox smiled a satisfied smile. "Oh, we have big things in store for you, sir."

"But what do you do?" Nick repeated. Judy saw the light in his eyes. And she didn't like it. She knew what was going on in his head.

"Nick, don't do this. Please," Judy pleaded softly. But Nick shrugged her words away. He looked at the fox and the tiger.

"It's quite a fun job," the tiger said. "I'm sure that you'd enjoy it."

" _But what do you do in it?_ " Nick asked for the final time.

"We like to…hustle mammals. That's our specialty." Nick grinned widely. "Hustling, eh? I knew a thing or two about that."

The fox laughed. "I'm sure you do, my good man."

It was only Judy who noticed the noise in the distance. She grinned widely, realizing what was going on.

"Before I choose to join you guys," Nick spoke. "I'll give you some advice. Don't try to hustle a fox cop. That's _my_ job."

Nick grabbed the carrot pen out of his back pocket and pressed play. The words, "We like to…hustle mammals. That's our specialty," played over and over again. The fox's mouth dropped when he saw police cars drive up to the street and park on the side of the street. Some officers jumped out of the car, pointing their guns at the criminals. The Chief walked over to Nick. Nick grinned widely and played the recording again for Chief Bogo to hear. The buffalo grunted.

"Drop your weapons and put your paws in the air!" he shouted. The fox glared at Nick—who was smiling smugly, satisfied—and scowled. Nick winked at him as he dropped his gun and raised his arms up.

The tiger let go of Judy and the bunny ran up to Nick and threw her arms around him. Nick was caught off guard, but he soon sunk into the hug. He petted the back of Judy's head as other officers handcuffed the criminals.

"You're shaking. You must have been scared," Nick said, half teasing, but half concerned.

"I was. But it was mostly for you." Judy looked up into Nick's eyes. "You beautiful, sly fox."

"Dumb bunny."

Nick kissed the top of Judy's head. Then he slipped out of the hug, but he didn't let her go. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, looking at the mammals being taken away to the police cars.

"Hey you, fox!" the yellow-eyed one snarled. "I'll let you know one thing. Nobody is going to approve of inter-species relationships. Especially one between predator and prey. I'd give up right now if I were you before you start getting nasty looks and words."

Nick looked down at Judy and smiled. "I wouldn't even think about it."

Before he was shoved into the back of the car, the yellow-eyed fox snarled, "You're a disgrace to foxes."

The car door was slammed shut.

##############################################################################

Judy entered Nick's apartment with him. She sighed and plopped down onto the sofa. She rested her feet on his coffee table and crossed her arms, waiting for Nick to sit down beside her. He did. Judy laid her head on Nick's chest as he put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him. Judy closed her arms. It had been a late and long night. She felt herself begin to doze off. Nick rested his head on the top of Judy's.

Judy felt Nick's strong love for her by his warmth. It was almost hard for her to breath. She was so in love. She opened her eyes and looked up at Nick. His warm smile looked down on her.

Nick looked down at Judy as she buried her head into Nick's chest again. He had never had affection like this for anyone. Not even Marcy. The fox wrapped his arms around the bunny even tighter. He didn't care how fast their relationship went. In fact, they could just take it slow.

The moonlight broke through the moonlight and shined upon the couple. Nick felt his heart race faster and faster. Judy looked at the fox again and gave him a beautiful smile. Nick didn't hesitate. He pulled Judy into a long, deep kiss. Judy wasn't expecting it, but she definitely wasn't against it. She was all for it. She wasn't gonna mess this thing up. But she wasn't gonna push too far, either. In fact, she felt like he was the one she was waiting for her whole life. He was the one. The love of her life. The only love of her life.

When they pulled apart from the kiss, Judy rested her head on Nick's shoulder. "Goodnight," she whispered. Nick kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight."

 **AAAAAAAAAAAANND…..That's a wrap. Sorry for the wait. But was it worth it? You tell me in your review if the wait was worth it. If it wasn't, I won't be hurt. ;)**


	4. Looking At Stars

**Oh, gosh. I'm sooooo sorry guys that this took THIS long…It's crazy how much school has gotten in the way of things…I'm really sorry. Some people even asked me if I gave up on this story. Fear not, I HAVEN'T! What's it been…a month? It's been almost a month since I updated this. I'm really sorry. Don't give up on me!**

 **This chapter is based off of the song, "Looking At Stars," by Kelsea Ballerini. I'll let out a little spoiler. This'll be the last super fluffy chapter that you'll get for a while. You know me, I love my drama. This fic isn't gonna be filled with fluff. I kinda have to cut it off a bit, even though you've been waiting for SO LONG! But anyways, here you go!**

 **4**

 _Looking At Stars_

It had been a long week filled with hard work. 2—or was it 3?—weeks after the arrest, Judy and Nick, being the only witnesses, went to the fox's and tiger's court. The ferret was well enough to come to it, but medics were still around her all of the time. Judy was relieved to know that the ferret was okay.

Nick and Judy heard the entire story about the fox's shooting. He and the ferret apparently had a deal. The fox and tiger had hustled her into it, but before it was too late to turn back, she realized that it was a hustle. The night that she was shot, she was supposed to meet up with them for their deal. She was supposed to receive a fake product that he was "selling." The fox and the tiger said that they had to meet up at night after their work because any other time of the day, they'd be too busy to bring her the product. And this product was really big, the tiger explained, so it took time to transport it. But when they met up, the ferret told them that she knew all about their little scheme and she demanded her money back. The fox tried to reason with her and coax her, but the rodent was too smart. When the yellow-eyed fox reached into his pocket to give her back her money, he really grabbed out his gun. And before she could move or say a word, he shot her.

But since that was all taken care of, Nick and Judy thought that they'd have an easier week. But that wasn't the case. They had some other minor cases to take care of, like a robbery. Their week was so full of work that they hardly got any sleep at all. They worked all day and even worked all night. Judy always dragged herself into bed and curled up in it right away, not bothering to put on PJ's. And then the next morning, she'd take a quick shower and iron her uniform before walking out of her apartment, feeling all drowsy and awful. This lasted for an entire week and a half. At work, Nick and she couldn't stop yawning. They both had red eyes from working so hard. They tried their hardest not to complain, but when they were alone, man did they _complain._

One morning, Judy walked into the ZPD. She yawned really big, her front teeth sticking out as she did so. She looked up at Clawhauser with really tired eyes. Clawhauser gave her a questioning look.

"Judy, are you okay?" he wondered.

"Yeah, I'm just-" _Yawn._ "Sooooo tired…"

Judy's eyes dropped for a second. They didn't open until Clawhauser spoke again. Judy jumped up, not catching his words, but definitely catching his voice.

"Yeah?" she mumbled.

"You should go home," he said. "You don't look so well. I can tell Chief that you aren't feeling well and…"

"Oh, no! I can't do that Clawhauser! I have to work, work, work!" another yawn. "I've got lots of paperwork to catch up on, I've got a patrol to be on today, I promised Nick to drive the cruiser this time and…would you really do that for me?"

"Sure would, Judy. I can tell that you need sleep."

"Oh, thank you, Clawhauser!" Judy managed a smile, but it was really sloppy. "I guess I'll go to my office until I get an answer. But poor Nick. He must be more tired than I am."

"I'll be sure to tell Chief about him too. Now go on."

Judy grinned another sloppy, toothy grin. She practically stumbled off to her office. She fidgeted with the door knob. She almost fell asleep just standing there. _That's_ how tired she was.

When she finally managed to open the door, she found Nick sound asleep on the wheelie chair. He jumped up when he heard the door close and brushed his uniform. His eyes showed panic, but settled down when he realized that it was just Judy.

"Oh, Carrots. I thought you were someone else," he sighed.

"Who?" she grumbled. Nick managed a shrug and leaned back against the chair. Judy strolled over and sat in his lap. Half of her wasn't thinking straight and just sat in his chair with him while the other half of her just wanted to cuddle up with him. She was messed up.

"Clawhauser said that he was gonna try and get you and I off for the day," Judy said.

"How about for the week?" Nick grunted, leaning his head back and closed his eyes. Judy lied across his lap, her legs on one arm of the chair and her head resting on his chest. Judy's eyes began to droop. She didn't even try to stop them. She felt herself slowly doze off…

"Officer Hopps and Officer Wilde!"

They woke with a start and jumped up when they saw Chief Bogo in the doorway. Judy practically jumped off of Nick's lap and onto the floor, throwing in a salute. Nick stood up as well, looking nervous and panicked. But he played it cool.

"Hi-ya, Chief," he spoke. "What's up?"

"Don't play games, Officer Wilde," Chief Bogo snorted. "Why are you sleeping on the job? Both of you! I'm ashamed."

"I'm sorry, sir," Judy dropped her head. "We were just…"

"No excuses. You guys forgot that you have a patrol to get to. And after you get back from that, I have a case that I want you two to look at and start ASAP." As the chief spoke, the more Judy's and Nick's ears would drop back. "And then when you get back from that, you have a bunch of paperwork to get to and…"

Chief Bogo almost smiled at the looks on Judy's and Nick's faces.

"Just kidding!" he exclaimed in a high pitch. Judy and Nick relaxed a bit, but still looked at Chief Bogo. "I've decided to let you two have the rest of the week off. You two are such good officers that you deserve a break. You'll start work again on Monday. I wouldn't even bother to make you finish the rest of the work day. Just go home now and start your break."

"Oh, thank you, sir!" Judy smiled a real smile this time. "That means a whole lot to us."

"Yeah, thanks Chief. You're a good sport," Nick winked. Bogo snorted and eyed Nick.

"Shut your trap, Wilde, and get the heck out of here!"

Nick threw up a salute and grinned. " _Gladly._ "

Bogo rolled his eyes and left the room. Nick fell back into his chair and sighed. Judy turned to face him. "What are you doing? Come on, let's go!"

"I'm too tired to get up, let alone walk. I'm gonna take a nap here."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm pretty tired." Judy curled back up into Nick's lap and closed her eyes.

"Nick?" she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"So…we get the rest of the week off. Do you want to maybe do something?"

"Hmm, let me think about that…oh yes. I want to _sleep._ "

Judy giggled. "I mean later."

"Carrots."

"Okay, okay. I'll shut up."

Judy let her mind drift off for a bit, but before she entered sleep, another thought popped up into her head.

"Nick?"

"What?" he mumbled.

"Can you walk me to the bathroom? I'm too tired to walk on my own."

 _"_ _Carrots!"_

##############################################################################

"Come on, Nick. Let's go _do_ something! I'm so sick and tired of lying around in my apartment!" Judy moaned, sitting in Nick's living room.

"Look, Carrots. We just had a hard week at work. I don't want to do anything. I just want to relax," he argued.

"We don't have to go out and play ball! We can just go out and stroll around or something. We don't have to do physical stuff."

"Carrots, anything with you is physical."

Judy crossed her arms, angry at Nick. "Nick Wilde, get off of your lazy butt and come on outside with me!"

"Nope. Sorry, Carrots. That kind of talk used to work on me, but not anymore."

Judy grew red in the face. "Fine then! I'll go out on my own and do stuff. Maybe Hermit would like to hangout."

"Silly bunny." Nick shook his head. "He's at work, remember?"

Judy huffed and lied back down against the couch, angry with Nick. She sat there in solid silence for a while. Nick soon began to worry about her, but he ignored it. He texted Finnick until he heard Judy speak again.

"I miss the country," she whimpered. Nick looked up from his phone and into Judy's eyes.

"What's that, Carrots?"

"I miss my home. I miss the country side. I miss seeing the sunrise without tall buildings getting in the way. I miss the bright, beautiful sunsets that I always miss since I'm in the ZPD working. I miss my crazy siblings. I miss Gideon Gray. I miss Brittany, my best friend. I miss…"

Judy felt Nick's arms wrap around her.

"So, you miss the country side?"

Judy looked up at him with her big eyes.

"Yeah."

"Then that's where we'll go. To the country side."

##############################################################################

Everything was ready. Their sleeping bags were packed up along with their bag of clothes. They had a tent and a lantern and multiple flashlights, along with firewood and matches. They had newspaper for starting a fire, pillows, food, a first aid kit, and a bunch of other supplies that they'd need. They were indeed going camping.

They loaded up everything in a car and drove a little ways out of the city of Zootopia to a camping park. It wasn't too busy that weekend that they were there. It wasn't bunny burrow, but it was far away from the city where Judy could watch the sunrise and sunset and forget about everything that was on her mind.

"Thank you, Nick," Judy smiled as they were setting up their tent. Nick flashed a smile.

"No problem, Fluff. You deserve this."

"You do too."

"But you're the one who misses the country side. Remember that we're doing this for _you._ Next time _I_ want something, you better do it for me," Nick said. Judy giggled.

"Alright, slick Nick."

They finished setting up the tent before grabbing everything else out of the car. They set some of it inside of the tent and some of it outside of the tent. Judy cooked them up a nice meal of veggie hotdogs over a fire that Nick built (even though he wasn't part of the Junior Ranger Scouts, he taught himself how to build a fire when he was younger and he had absolutely mastered it.)

Judy and Nick grabbed their sleeping bags after watching a beautiful sunset together. The first few stars appeared in the sky and they brought their sleeping bags out of the tent and lied them in the soft grass. They lied on top of them, looking at the dark blue sky.

"It's so nice out here with no one around," Judy sighed. "There are no troubles, no work, no nothing. Being a cop and all is great and hanging out with fellow cops is great, but I really like this. It's so peaceful."

And then, it grew silent. On the crickets were to be heard and the rushing river which was about a mile away. Nick's breath was so quiet that Judy even wondered if he was alive. But she didn't dare look away from the beautiful night sky. The full moon hung in it and glowed marvelously. It looked so big out here in the open.

Nick touched Judy's cheek with his paw and made her face him. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss that left a beautiful smile on Judy's face. This night was so perfect. He couldn't help it, but he stole another kiss from her. Judy looked a bit irritated by the stolen kiss. That left a smile on Nick's face.

"Come on, Nick. Look at the stars. I remember looking for constellations every night with my siblings," Judy whispered. But then she was quiet and she never said another word after that. Nick grabbed Judy in his loving arms and held her close, looking back up at the beautiful, shining stars. Only the stars had witnessed their love that night.

 **It's a bit of a shorter chapter, but I don't have all of the time in the world anymore, if you know what I mean.**

 **I'll try to post the next chapter sooner! Thank you!**


	5. A case

**WTF? I UPDATED?! WHAT? SINCE WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?**

 **But yeah guys! I updated! I know, it's been OVER a year and I apologize greatly but I've just had so much going on in my life and I had no inspiration or will to update. But I just found some the other day while writing this and I'm**

 **Back! Hopefully updates will come more frequently.**

 **HUGE shout out to FoxofKnowledge for helping me with this plot and for giving me a lot of Inspiration!**

 **Now, enough of this talk! I'm sure you're ready to read this new chapter!**

 **So, y'all know the drill. Read, review and enjoy!**

 **Chapter 5**

 _A case_

When Nick and Judy returned from their little "get away", they were upset to see that they still had a lot of work left from when they left the ZPD. But without complaining, Judy got to work right away, filing papers and organizing them, she even got to help be part of a minor interrogation.

Nick, on the other hand, was not in the mood. He was still as tired as he was when he left, and Judy had to practically drag him everywhere. Thankfully, he didn't complain a lot. But that was because he was dozing off half of the time.

"Nick, come on. You have to wake up," Judy said, shaking the nearly-asleep fox. He opened his eyes and looked at Judy.

"I honestly can't open my eyes, Judy. I'm so tired. I don't know why."

"Maybe we should get you checked up by the doctor. This could be an after effect of the antidote you got."

"That was weeks ago," Nick muttered, putting his arms on the desk and laying his head on top of them.

"Symptoms can come later. Now Nick, would you please wake up." Judy grabbed his head and tried to lift it, but it was dead weight. She growled in irritation and huffed.

"Fine, then I'll just get Chief."

Those words seemed to be the only words Nick heard, but he still didn't care.

"Go ahead, Carrots. Maybe he'll let me have another break. Maybe a whole week off this time."

"Okay, Nick. I know you're tired, so I'm not going to try bother waking you up," Judy said. "But I am going to take you to the doctor and that's that. Nick, you hear me?"

The only response she got was light snoring. Judy shrugged and went to open the door to leave her office and to go talk to Chief Bogo. Right as she laid her paw on the door knob, she heard a CRASH and shouting in the ZPD lobby. Judy flung the door open and ran down the hall. Whatever that sound was, it didn't sound good.

Just continued to jog down the hall and came to an immediate stop when she saw a black wolf clutching the counter and breathing heavily. Clawhauser laid his paw on her arm and tried to speak to her calmly. Judy slowly walked up to the wolf and Clawhauser and said, "I can't take it from here, Clawhauser."

The wolf looked at Judy and breathes heavily.

"Sorry about that," she panted. "While I was walking in, I tripped and hit into this counter which caused quite a few things to fall. I'm, um...very clumsy."

That's all it was? Judy thought. And then she began to chuckle. "That's alright. I'm officer Hopps."

Judy held out her paw and the wolf took it. "Emily Henderson," the wolf smiled. She had a small fresh accent which made Judy give a slight smile.

"Well, what brings you here, Miss Henderson?"

"Oh, please. Just call me Emily," she replied. "I'm here to report a robbery."

"Okay. Well, maybe we should go somewhere else to talk about this. We can go into my office and you can tell me all of the details."

"That sounds great," Emily responded.

"Okay, follow me."

Judy led Emily down the hall as they passed other offices.

"I apologize if my office is a mess. These past few weeks have been very busy for me and my partner."

"Oh, I can relate. My apartment is a mess. It's a wonder how this thief even found these things that he's stolen."

The two of them laughed. Judy finished her giggling as she laid her hand on her door knob. She twisted it and pushed open the door. The two of them walked into the office and the first thing they saw was Nick sleeping at his desk. Emily let out a little startled "oh!" As Judy gasped.

"I'm so sorry. I totally forget that my partner wasn't feeling well," Judy said to Emily.

"Oh, it's okay. I can come another time," Emily offered. But Judy shook her head.

"No, no, it's fine. If you don't mind having a meeting with a sleeping fox."

Emily laughed aloud. "It's alright. I always have music lessons with my daughter sleeping on the couch right next to my students and I."

Judy chuckled. "We seem to have a lot in common."

"So it seems," Emily replied. She stepped further into the room while she waited for instructions. Judy found a pad of paper on her desk and grabbed a pen. She searched on her desk for a recording device, but it seemed to be lost in the mess of piles of papers.

"I apologize, but is it okay if I record our meeting with my phone? I seem to have lost my recorder in the mess on my desk," Judy chuckles nervously. Emily waved her paw downwards with a laugh.

"It's fine, it's fine. Really." Her French accent really stood out as she laughed which Judy thought was really comforting and cute. It made her loosen up and she felt like Emily was very chill it didn't mind things being professional.

"Alright," Judy said while pulling a chair up for Emily. "You can sit here."

The two of them sat down in their seats. Judy turned on the voice recorder on her phone and held her pad with her recording carrot pen in her right paw.

"Okay, so can you tell me Ms. Henderson, what your problem is?"

"Well, I was getting ready for bed last night and-"

Emily was interrupted by a loud, long yawn. The two of them turned around in their chairs to see Nick stretching. He turned around in his seat and when he laid eyes on them, he stopped and looked like a deer in headlights.

"Nick! I'm working on a case and I'm recording and everything and you've just interrupted us!"

But once more, Emily didn't mind at all. She bursted out laughing with her eyes watering with tears. Judy felt a little uncomfortable and she glared at the fox.

"Nick!" She hissed.

"Hey, she doesn't seem to mind," Nick replied, pointing at the wolf. Judy rolled her eyes at him. She opened her mouth to scold him more, but Emily spoke first.

"My my," she spoke, wiping tears from her eyes. "I didn't expect to have this much fun at the ZPD."

"Well, that's what we do here, Miss. We have fun."

Nick stood up and walked over to Emily. He held out his paw and with his signature grin, he introduced himself.

"Officer Wilde. And you must be...?"

"Emily." The black wolf took her paw and shook is firmly. "Emily Henderson. But like I told your friend right here, just call me Emily. No need to get formal with all of this 'Miss Henderson' stuff."

"Will do." Nick grabbed his chair and pulled it up beside Judy's.

"So then, Emily, what seems to be the problem?" Nick asked.

"Nick!" Judy hissed. "You can't just join in in the middle of this conversation."

"Why not? I've done it before," Nick replied with his usual smirk.

"I'm kind of working on this alone. You can't just hop in like you were here from the beginning."

"But why? We work so well together. We're partners."

Emily cleared her theist in the middle of arguing. "Officers, I don't mind. Really. You can both interrogate me."

"This-this isn't an interrogation. Don't you see, Nick? You've added tension! You're making her nervous."

"Officers. I'm fine, really. If you want I can come back another time."

"No!" both Nick and Judy exclaimed at the same time. Judy took in a breath.

"I'm sorry Emily. We don't usually argue like this. Please, continue."

"You will cut this all out of the recording, right?" Nick asked.

Judy smirked at him. "Nope! Now let's respect Emily and listen to her."

"Thank you," Emily smiled. "Anyways, as I said, I was in my apartment last night getting ready for bed. My daughter-who is an adopted lynx by the way, but I'm not sure if that's relative to this-she was in bed. I'd say it was probably around 11:00 at night when all of this happened."

Judy scribbled aggressively on her note pad, writing as quickly as she could.

"You said there was a robbery at your apartment," Judy said. "Can you explain these objects to me in detail?"

"Of course," she responded. "One of my stolen items was a diamond necklace with the value of $10,000. It is very dear to me. It was my grandmama's necklace and it's one of the last things that I have of her."

"Uh-huh. Yes. And the other things?"

"Well, before I explain this thing, I'd like you to know that I'm a music teacher. I more specifically teach the violin, but I also do teach the piano, cello...you get me. I used to travel around the world on tour playing violin. I was quite a celebrity, or so everybody told me."

"Wait a second," Nick spoke, holding his paw up. "I knew that your name sounded familiar. You're Emily Henderson? The Emily Henderson?"

"You mean you know her?" Judy asked curiously.

"Well, not personally-until now. But my mother loved you. She bought all of your albums. She would be so jealous if she knew I met you in person right now."

"How sweet. Maybe if you help me and solve this case then, I don't know. Maybe I could meet your mom?"

"Consider this case settled! Now, please explain this object that has also been stolen," Nick said.

"It's a beautiful, one of a kind violin that I was given to as a gift-more like an award. It's priceless and it's the only one of its kind ever made. It's such a beautiful violin and has one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard a violin make. These thieves stole that too along with the necklace."

"Can you explain to us what these thieves look like?" Judy asked.

"Well, I didn't really get a good look at them. I've only seen the backs of them. I can explain that to you, but you can probably get a better look at them through the security cameras on my street."

"Okay." Judy wrote down some more on her notepad. She chewed on her pen as she thought deeply. Why would these people steal these things unless they were just full on thieves? But who would steal a random violin...unless they knew it was valuable...

"What did they look like? Or, what could you tell of them?" Judy asked Emily. Emily thought hard. She jiggled her leg and tapped her paw on her chin.

"I believe that one of them had the bushy tail of a fox. I only saw their backsides while they were running off. The other was taller and broader and had a long thin tail. That's all that I can give you."

"And what's your address?" Nick wondered.

"It's apartment 405 on Stripped Lane. It's a fairly small street but they have nice quality apartments. And you can call my number if you need any more info. My number is 665-341-9089."

"Alrighty ma'am. I think we got it all. Are there any extra details or questions?"

"I don't think so," she barked. "Thank you so much for your time, officers."

"No problem," Judy said, putting her pen and paper down. "I just have one question."

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you call 911 the night these things were stolen?"

"It was because I knew that the police wouldn't find these criminals on the same night and I was very tired. So I decided to put it off until today."

Judy nodded. "That makes sense." She stood up at the same time that Emily did and walked her over to the door.

"Thank you for coming to us,

Emily. I'm sure we will get this all figured out in time."

"Thank you Officer Hopps." Emily opened the door and before slipping out, she spoke, "have a good day officers."

"You too!" Nick called after her. The door shut quietly and Judy let out an exhausted sigh.

"How tired are you still?" Judy asked, looking over at the fox.

"Pretty exhausted. I still think I should have that check up."

"Oops, I forgot to talk to Bogo. Let me go right now."

"You mean you forgot to?" Nick asked. Judy nodded. "Yeah, I got sidetracked with Emily."

She kissed Nick's forehead. "I'll be right back."

The grey bunny exited the room once more to _finally_ talk to Chief Bogo.

 **A/N:Sorry this was sooooo long. But...I updated. I can't believe that I did that. Wow. Just wow.**

I know this chapter wasn't really worth waiting for, but hopefully I'll be able to update a little more often :)

Thank you my loves. You guys are amazing and I love all of your support. Don't forget to leave me a review since I'm FINALLY BACK!

I love you guys! Thanks for giving me the inspiration to keep writing! 3 3 3


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